


Comfort

by Eggling



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: M/M, Mostly a friendship fic, mentions of Ben Polly and Victoria
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-11
Updated: 2017-04-11
Packaged: 2018-10-17 15:44:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10597149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eggling/pseuds/Eggling
Summary: Two and Jamie miss Ben and Polly more than they usually admit.





	

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6317737/chapters/17224000) fic by [penny-anna](penny-anna.tumblr.com).

“Doctor?”

Jamie let out a little huff of irritation as he peered into yet another empty room. Victoria had long since gone to bed, but the Doctor was still gallivanting around his endless ship somewhere, probably having forgotten about sleep entirely. The lights were still on in the library, and Jamie regarded the massive expanse of bookshelves dubiously. The Doctor could be anywhere.

“Where are ye?” he called out.

“In the astrochemistry section,” came the Doctor’s distant reply.

The organisation of the library never made sense to Jamie, no matter how many times the Doctor explained it, so he simply picked an aisle and hoped for the best. The Doctor’s voice had sounded as if it were coming from the left – or possibly the right. Sounds echoed strangely in the great, cavernous space, as if the books caught and threw them in every direction. He walked down a row filled with books bound in a green, scaly material, the script on their spines shifting, growing, and shrinking, making his eyes hurt, and then into one with bottles on the shelves, not books. The purple liquid inside sparkled and shimmered, seeming to let out whispers in a language which seemed familiar but that he did not understand, and Jamie backed away from them warily.

“Where’s astrochemistry?” he asked at last, resigning himself to yet another lecture on the mad geography of the library.

“One right turn and two lefts,” the Doctor replied absently. “You were close. Watch out for the Venusian butterfly trap on your -”

“Ouch!”

“I did try to warn you.”

Jamie glowered at the plant for a moment. It looked like flytrap plants he had seen on Earth, only far larger, its great, grinning mouth almost at his eye level. Had he not left his knife in his room, he would have been tempted to slice the thing in half. As it was, he simply settled for rubbing his bitten hand ruefully and setting off towards the Doctor.

“Can ye not get rid of that thing?” he said, emerging into an alcove of warm, golden light. The Doctor was sitting at a desk at the far end, not even looking up at his approach. “This is the third time.”

“They’re, ah, exceedingly rare,” the Doctor said, turning at last to face him. “And Susan was always rather fond of that one. As was Vicki,” he added after a moment, tapping one finger against his lips thoughtfully.

“If you’re sure.” Jamie draped his arms comfortably around the Doctor’s shoulders, leaning over to examine the contents of the desk. “What’ve ye been doing?”

“Correcting some of the more out of date volumes,” the Doctor said, in that tone of voice that meant he was about to launch off on some long, incomprehensible explanation. Before Jamie could hastily change the subject, however, he shifted so his face was buried in Jamie’s hair. “Mm. You smell nice.” Jamie let out something that was most certainly not a giggle at that, and only laughed harder when the Doctor scrunched up his face, for a moment the very image of a petulant child, and sneezed loudly. “Stop that. You know my olfactory system is far more sensitive than yours, and certain -” He was cut off by another sneeze, shaking his head like a cat, but then nuzzled into Jamie’s hair quite happily once again.

“Are ye coming to bed?” Jamie asked.

“I was _busy_ ,” the Doctor complained. “Now you’ve interrupted me, with your – your _cuddles_ , and your nice-smelling hair.” The disdain he injected into his voice would have been slightly more convincing had he not looked quite so comfortable, or sounded so sleepy.

“Ye knew I was going to bed before ye even came in here.”

“You took so long in the shower.”

“Well, if ye will tell me I need a wash -”

“Most people aren’t in there for quite so long -”

“There’s too many wee buttons and things.” It would be closer to the truth to say that he had been reluctant to leave the warm water, still a luxury to him, but Jamie was hardly going to admit that now. “And anyway, ye spend ages fussing over your hair in the morning. “I don’t know why ye bother, it always looks like it’s got wee birds nesting in it -”

“Oh!” The Doctor sniffed at Jamie’s hair again, and pulled back in surprise, blinking at Jamie for a moment. Jamie stared back, not quite sure what he had realised. “That’s Polly’s.”

“Aye, so?” Jamie felt suddenly defensive, unable to find a justification for having taken Polly’s shampoo. It had just been _there_ – and it was hardly as if she was going to use it – and he had felt suddenly drawn towards it. “If you’re going to tell me it’s for girls...”

“I wasn’t,” the Doctor said softly. “Why would I – oh. Ben.” Jamie nodded. “You really shouldn’t listen to him, Jamie.”

There it was. _Listen_. Like he still could. Like he could walk into the kitchen in the morning and see Ben and Polly, bickering or reminiscing about their home. Like he still had Ben’s teasing and Polly’s fussing to deal with. Like they had never left. Jamie could hardly begrudge them having returned home – had he anything to go back to himself, he might even have envied them – but that hardly stopped the pain of seeing little reminders of them around the TARDIS.

“You miss them very much, don’t you?” The Doctor was watching him sadly now.

“Aye, I do,” Jamie admitted. Acknowledging it felt freeing, in a way, even though he had hardly been hiding it. “I do like Victoria,” he added hastily. “Very much. But they were… they were family.”

“I know,” the Doctor said gently. “You’d like all three of them with us, wouldn’t you? But Victoria will become family, in time, and...” He hesitated a moment. “You’ve always got me. Until you decide to leave.”

“Never,” Jamie reassured him, tightening his hold on the Doctor’s shoulders. “I’m no’ going anywhere. Where would I go?”

“Home?” the Doctor suggested.

“Back tae being shot at by redcoats?” Jamie shook his head. “I love it here, with you.” The Doctor beamed at this admission. “I miss my home, but I cannae go back now.”

“I’d miss you.” The Doctor twisted around further, this time to rest his head against Jamie’s shoulder. He let out a little sigh as he nestled in, though he hardly looked comfortable, and Jamie bent down a little more to accommodate his sudden need for contact. It was only then that Jamie realised quite how much the Doctor had been affected by Ben and Polly leaving. His next words were muffled by Jamie’s shirt, and he almost missed them, but they made his heart clench with a sudden longing for the simplicity of the little family they had made themselves.

“I miss them too, Jamie.”


End file.
